This diary started out, to prove that - contrary to what some diarist here contend, Daily Kos isnt a completely nasty assemblance of Anti-Hillary vitriol and certainly not more or equally vitriolic in nature than MyDD.

The conclusion I have come to, looking at and analyzing the last 10 diaries on each site at 6 PM EST is, that neither sites diaries suffer from too much vitriol.

Disclaimer: I didnt look at the comments. I do have a real life after all ;-)

What I also found was a profound disappointment for me and reason to believe, that we can esily loose the GE in November if we dont change our ways.

I must admit, i am somewhat exasperated about the sad state of this site. I come here since 2003 and MyDD was a hotbed of progressive voices, with a clear message and mission: To elect more good democrats around the country. It was a partisan site with good and insightful commentary, with good tips how to improve our electoral chances etc.

Today, everything has changed. And not for the better.

But dont despair, there are things that can be done about it.

I want to admit upfront, that I support John Edwards for president.

Still, I have to admit: This was not his best debate performance. By far.

It has become so commonplace on this site, to just cheerlead for your candidate, whatever the facts, whatever the truth, whatever was really going on, that I just decided to write a diary, critical of my first choice in this primary.

While others are spinning to death, I am more inclined to believe, that serious analysis is much more helpful to my candidate.

That said...Edwards didnt shine yesterday in Las Vegas.

Why?

Read on....

Clinton withholds support for Edwards

(Loony Press Agency) Washington DC - Not answering a question not yet posed to her about whether or not to support rival candidate John Edwards, if she would not be the democratic nominee for president, Hillary Clinton not only gave her opponents a wide opening for criticism, but also did not rule out endorsing someone else.

She also did not rule out running as an independent or leaving the democratic party altogether. Not pressed to explain her non answer, she even left open the possibility to become a private citizen again and start a career as a professional triangulator.
In a move certain to enflame liberal primary voters, she gave no hint, that she would categorically not be a candidate to lead the Washington DC lobbyist chamber.

Crossposted at www.dailykos.com, hope this doesnt violate any diary rule...

First of all: I don't think there was a clear cut winner in this debate.

Some candidates did well, some very well, some not so well.

Now some observations:

Talk time was distributed very unevenly (source)

While Obama was always able to finish his statements he ended up with 16 minutes of talk time, Edwards wasnt so lucky, he only got 11:42 minutes (Obama had 36% mor time to get his message out). Hillary got 14:26 minutes, Richardson who was - like Edwards - often interrupted by moderator Wolf Blitzer only got 10:48 minutes. Joe Biden was surprisingly able to get several memorable moments and soundbites in a meager 7:58 minutes.

And this Wolf Blitzer guy actually got more than 13 minutes to talk. Who is he anyway? I didnt see him registering even 1% in any democratic primary poll ;-)